The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy - and Their Vision for World Peace

I have always been intrigued by the assassination of Mary Pinchot Meyer and have followed the accounts of her assasination with great interest over the years, and find that this is the best yet. I also think that if Mr.Janney's findings are accurate we had all better keep and eye on him. Obviously Mr. Janney's motivation in writing this book was his friendship with Mary Meyer's son Michael. To think of the research that must have gone into this is mind boggling. Mary Meyer was also a philanderer much like her associate JFK.
She was not a "very private woman" as some have claimed but appears to have relished her presence among the high society of her time. She reached the peak of her dalliances with the President of the United State, JFK. I doubt that JFK discused events that were effecting the country in such a way as would be insinuated here, pillow-talk maybe but nothing beyond that. Mary Meyer wea not making the decisions of the day. I was somewhat disappointed that Mr. Janney let J.Edgar Hoover off the hook so easily. As we all know now Hoover was well aware of most everything that was going on in the country, and probably was a party to the whole Mary Meyer affair. Having learned that he probably would loose his job if JFK was re-elected, Mr, Hoover was probably more than happy to assist the CIA in their foul deed. The other characters of this drama are not unexpected. We all are aware of LBJ and his jelousies and tantrums. Cord Meyer is familiar to many of us who were around at that time. The Dulles brothers have found a spot in history which they probaboy do not deserve. Ben Bradley built a career on sycophancy and with the desire of Mrs. Graham wanting Nixon out of office, Bradley was only too eager to follow her commands and in doing so got an image which he was so quick to grasp, but one that has since diminished with our learning of they type of person he was. The officials and troops of the CIA are nothing more than we can expect, Mr. Janney makes it obvious what his feeling is, particularly with the deception he was subjected to by his father as a youth. All in all this is a great book, and the author is to be congratulated. It is highly recommended that anyone interested in the Mary Pinchot Myer assasination read this book.

Intrigue and Murder of another JFK lover. Did she seriously think she would never be caught in the web to getting rid of anyone who was JFK's confidant and lover. I recommend The Murder of Marilyn Monroe, same characters once again appear.

I was 5 when President Kennedy was assassinated. I remember very clearly where I was and what I was doing. My clearest memory is watching the tears roll down my grandmother's face while she was ironing. Though not a Kennedy supporter, she was very clearly devastated and that was my impression as a young child. Without a doubt, the world had ended as my five-year-old psyche perceived the situation. Perhaps, because I was born and raised in Texas, I've always been fascinated by this event especially from the time I wrote a research paper on it in high school a few years later.

I was a little skeptical when I first began reading this book (author with awful childhood finally exacts revenge on his perceived rotten father), but it soon became very clear that Peter Janney thoroughly researched and documented this case. The man was clearly on a quest for the truth (why else would he go into professional counseling?). I was hooked from the start. Even though I could not put the book down, it took me several days to finish it as it deserves very careful examination and I spent a great deal of time flipping to his notes at the back of the book.

It is a very thought provoking and disturbing book that shook me to the foundations of my patriotism. I'm not sure at this point that I will ever even bother with voting again so profoundly sinister are the conclusions of this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a well documented and thorough investigation into the behind the scenes world of the highest levels of government.

This book presents a very convincing accounting of what should be a familiar story to all Americans, if not the world. Mostly, the story of Mary Pinchot Meyer and her secret illicit partnership with Pres. John Kennedy. Yes, it was romantic, yes it was a lot of things. But, possibly most important, it was a supportive relationship striving for World Peace. JFK could very well have been assassinated mostly because of his dramatic actions in that pursuit. He was considered "out of control" by the powers within the military/intelligence complex, and action must be taken.

Mary, x-wife of CIA insider Cord Meyer, quickly pieced together what most likely happened. Being her "own" person, and not responding well when another CIA wife was sent to have a "talk" with her, she too was considered "out of control." Action was taken. Probably the same team and method that did in Jack.

The story of Mary Meyer, her love and relationship with the President, and their joint desire and courageous striving for World Peace, should be something to be celebrated. Instead, the story is hidden, unknown to most. Those who speak of it are labeled conspiracy theorists.

A tragic life partially brought back to life. Author was very thorough in his analysis of what happened but end is not completely conclusive as most of these books about this subject are (JFK assasination).

An incredible mystery, frightening sceneriuos. An irrisistable story which for me made the Bay of Pigs a startling prelude for peaceful solutions. I wondered what other ovitures for peace negotiations had Kennedy lived!

I was expecting something exceptional and I wasn't disappointed! This put all the seemingly implausible innuendos into one perfectly fitting puzzle that points to all the key players in, not just the "offing" of Mary Pinchot Meyer, but little bits and pieces solidifying the futures of others. I happened to be born after the deaths of JFK and Mary Pinchot Meyer but reading this meticulously researched book made me feel as thought I were there through it all...the good and the bad and the course laid out by them both for them personally and the future of living the American dream for us all. I would recommend this to anyone looking to get real, pertinent facts about these 2 people with a dream for the American people and the sordid ways government can wriggle it's way into the lives of anyone it sees fit. A definite 5 star MUST READ!!!

This book focuses on two murders (could be called assassinations): Mary Pinchot Meyer's and JFK. The focus is primarily on her killing. His death is covered to the extent that Mary's is tied to it. There's not much more I can add here to these reviews, but I recommend this book to understand how the machinery works.

This reads like an Agatha Christie crime novel, only more detailed. Her novels often included a ring of closely-knit highbrow suspects that had motives for either suppressing truth or eliminating the victim. Each suspect provided 'a little' tidbit or breadcrumb to the detective. But none really provided all the clues needed. It was up to a dogged detective to put together the MOSAIC of clues and reach a conclusion. Reading like a Christie novel, that's what this book does and hence the title.

A good book can/should change your thinking and maybe your life. It dawned on me by page 230 that there is a second 'invisible hand'. Statists decry the 'invisible hand' of the free market place, which is helpful and is the source of a prosperous economy, as we know.

But reading Mary's Mosaic has helped me to see that there is ANOTHER invisible hand, a black hand, an evil malicious hand - of The State, which is bigger than any one participant caught up in the machinery. This hand always turns on single participants of high and low degree which have faith in its 'benevolence' or allure. It ensnared and consumed Mary's (initially) well meaning husband, Cord Meyer. He "donned the ring of Mordor in order to fight Mordor" so to speak.

heartbreaking. Good story after the movie "the good shepard" with Matt Damon. And Katherine Graham's autobiography.
Possibly hard to comprehend if you hadn't lived in the DC area in the early 60s. But makes total sense if you did. Part of the whole legacy of the Kennedy assassinations.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who's interested in the Kennedy Assassination and what really happened and wants to learn more about the CIA's involvement in it. The book is well researched and well written. I did not know about Mary Meyer and her connection to JFK and her assassination. To me this is the moment the U.S, went over to the dark side and we've been going deeper and deeper into the pit of hell ever since.

I was 13 when the president was shot and I knew right then and there that something was rotten in Denmark. And I knew the Warren Commission was just part of the cover up and I was a kid. So really how gullible are we?

Peter Janney has an inside look (his father was in the CIA and his family knew Mary Meyer) and takes us on a journey that reads like a mystery novel.

The best researched book I have ever read. After reading Mr.Janney's book, you will come away with a clearer understanding of what caused JFK's assassination, and who clearly was behind it. A definite page turner.

I had never really thought much about the JFK assassination until seeing mention of this book on a website. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. The incredible amount of research and details are somewhat overwhelming to keep track of, but the story rings very true. Anyone who understands how governments really function will find this a credible and gripping account of what really happened to JFK and to Mary Meyer. I can't recommend it highly enough. If you've taken the government's official word as the true, this will challenge your beliefs, but READ IT and understand that evil men are always lured to governmental organizations like the CIA - or politics. Well done Mr. Janney!

On October 12, 1964, two days before her forty-fourth birthday, Mary Pinchot Meyer was found dead along the C & O Canal in Washington D.C. Two expertly placed gunshot wounds indicated a professional hit. Although a man taken into custody near the scene of the crime was charged with Mary’s murder, a jury found him not guilty. To this day the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer remains a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma.

Shedding new light on this case is Mary’s Mosaic, a book by Peter Janney. Janney argues that the murder of Mary Meyer can only be understood in the context of Cold War politics and the aftermath of another grisly murder. He makes a strong case for the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency, while exposing the framing of an innocent man. He examines the conflicting accounts of the curious disposition (i.e., theft) of Mary’s diary. And there is, behind it all, Janney argues, a political motive that connects Mary’s murder to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Janney tells his story from an insider’s perspective. As a child, Janney was best friends with Mary’s son, Michael. “Our families,” writes Janney, “were socially entwined—we went camping together, played touch football, visited each other’s homes frequently (p. 11).”

Janney’s closeness to the people and events surrounding the murder of a family friend places him in a unique position to piece together a puzzle that has haunted him ever since his mother told him about Mary’s death one night at the family dinner table, with his father “staring off into space.” It is precisely this closeness to the people he writes about that causes some reviewers to question Janney’s objectivity. Indeed, his writing does at times convey a fondness for Mary Meyer that betrays a mild obsession. Being so close, however, does not necessarily impair one’s objectivity. Janney’s extensive research, his critical treatment and parsing of his sources, indicates to me that he is a genuine seeker of truth.

Mary Meyer was a prominent D.C. socialite whose ex-husband, Cord Meyer, was a high level CIA employee. Mary moved comfortably in the highest circles of power. She was known by a few White House insiders to have been on intimate terms with President Kennedy, who at the time was taking secret measures to end the Cold War. Janney argues that Mary was instrumental in turning the president away from a belligerent foreign policy, turning him instead toward peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union—to the disdain of the more hawkish elements of Kennedy’s administration.

Janney’s most speculative and startling argument is that Mary and the president had not only smoked cannabis together, but had also taken LSD, which was obtained by Mary from Timothy Leary. Whether or not this is true makes little difference to the overarching narrative in which Mary probably did exert some influence on a president who, because he refused to bow to the Cowboy faction of the national security Establishment, had been marked for death. (If you are unfamiliar with the literature dealing with the assassination of President Kennedy, perhaps the best point of entry is the book JFK: Why He Died and Why It Matters, by James Douglass. I also highly recommend The Cowboy and Yankee War: Conspiracies from Dallas to Watergate, by Carl Oglesby.)

Although I suspect that Janney overstates Mary’s influence on the president to some degree, there is little doubt (thanks to Janney’s research) that Mary encouraged Kennedy, without leading him, in the direction of peace, to which the president was already inclined, having himself experienced the horrors of war.

In the case of Mary’s murder, Janney falls short of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt the identity of the person who pulled the trigger. He does, however, identify a prime suspect whose investigation by the police should be the starting point for any renewed attempt to solve this crime.

[SPOILER ALERT!]...

Janney also establishes the complicity of elements of the CIA, including his own father, Wistar Janney, a CIA agent with experience in covert operations. Wistar’s involvement in Mary’s murder was revealed by Mary’s brother-in-law, Ben Bradlee, the CIA-connected editor of the Washington Post.

Bradlee maintained for years that he had first heard of Mary’s death from a friend who called him shortly after lunch on the day of the murder. According to Janney, the timing of this call was suspicious; it came at a time when the identity of the dead woman was still unknown to the police. Yet the caller suspected that the woman was Mary Meyer. What innocent reason could the caller have had for believing that the woman found dead along the C & O Canal was Mary? At that point, the caller knew what only the murderer or a co-conspirator could have known.

For years Bradlee did not publicly identify the caller. Then, in his memoirs, published in 1995, he spilled the beans. The caller was Wistar Janney.

What about the motive? Janney contends that Mary knew too much. Given her insider status within the White House during Kennedy’s presidency, Mary was privy to information that contradicted the conclusion reached by the Warren Commission, i.e., that there was no conspiracy to kill the president, that he had been killed by a lone nut assassin. Janney argues that the CIA’s chief of counterintelligence, James Angleton, was convinced that Mary recorded her thoughts about the Warren Commission in her diary, which explains why, shortly after her murder, Angleton was so keen on stealing it.

Janney also speculates on firm ground that Angleton and other elements of the CIA believed that Mary was about to go public with what she knew, that she might produce evidence to undermine the Warren Report, perhaps raising the possibility of CIA complicity. The Warren Commission after all included the former head of the CIA who had been fired by the President after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Mary Meyer, the woman with a thousand friends--many of them in high places--could be influential in the court of public opinion, if not the court of law. She had to be silenced.

Janney’s account, though convincing in many respects, raises an important question: How could Mary Meyer, who had a penchant for loudly expressing her contempt for the CIA, and who, as Janney reconstructs it, “furiously confronted her ex-husband, Cord Meyer, possibly Jim Angleton as well, with what she discovered” about the president’s assassination (p. 391)—how could Mary have remained a close friend of the CIA’s chief of counterintelligence, a man who likely had a hand in the murder of her lover, so much so that she planned to go to a poetry reading with him and his wife on the very night of her murder (p.73)? Was this a case of keeping friends close and enemies even closer? Janney doesn’t say.

Best read yet on the people and circumstances surrounding JFK's assassination. Respect beyond words for Dr. Janney's life-long research to bring it to light and for his persistence to continue sharpening his findings in new editions.

I couldn't possibly improve on the Douglas Horne review of this book. Unfortunately, Jack was assassinated 50 years ago and at this point there's not a damn thing that can be done to bring the murderers of our playboy/Prez to justice. Mary Pinchot Meyer had become JFK's closest confidante and #1 bed buddy by the fall of 1963. The President was loathed by Mary's ex-husband, Cord Meyer, a high ranking CIA associate. Cord had been cuckolded by Mary and he and a young JFK came close to physical violence over their shared admiration of Mary. Smart as a whip, Mary knew exactly who was behind her lover's murder in Dallas on 11/22/63. When LBJ's minions on the Warren Commission published the 24 volumes that Hoover had shepherded through the commission and which LBJ had expedited - Mary hit the roof. None of her input had been included, the facts were distorted, eyewitnesses ignored and the nonsense that Earl had allowed to come out under his name hit Mary like a hard slap in the face. Furious, she allowed her emotions to get the better of her and she told the wrong people that she was going to blow the lid off of the Kennedy assassination. While on her regular jogging route in October of '64 - one bullet behind the ear and another one to the heart quieted Mary forever. It's all here. Regrettably, no one gives a tinker's dam.

One of the most interesting, personal, and clarifying discussions published on the machinations and personalities of the intelligence communities' upper managerial and societal interrelationships, especially concerning those whose footprints can be seen in the operations side of the house. A tragic love story ended by a series of purposeful acts taken by members of the US government under the umbrella of "national security" as determined by a handful of men in leadership roles who maintained their governmental "code of silence." A long-term investigative research and writing effort by Peter Janney, A brilliant work. Mary would've been proud.

Peter Janney PhD in Psychology was the best childhood friend of Michael Meyer. Janney's father and Mary Pinchot Meyer's husband, Cord Meyer were high ranking CIA and family friends. Janney's portrayl of Mary Pinchot Meyer is as adoring as his view of his father and Cord Meyer is harsh.
Dr. Janney's description of the Janney and Meyer families rings true to someone raised in the same era. His ability to describe family relationships is insightful and convincing.
The trial of Ray Crum, Jr. for murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer is very well presented. I am a trial lawyer and Janney has presented the evidence well.
This book presents strong evidence that CIA was involved in Mary Pinchot Meyer's murder and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Janney book is imporant, well researched and insightfully writen

When it comes to books about the JFK assassination there simply is no one source. The crime is so old, the major players long gone, leaving the field to second generation speculation. Too much tampering with evidence and information has occured. Too many writers have added disinformation. Just because there is no "gotcha" book out there doesn't mean several aren't extremely useful.

Don't be derailed by lengthy arguments over small details. The public has a right to know who was involved and why. Mary's Mosaic is first rate. Add it to the list of useful books on this tragedy. When the ex-wife of a major CIA official and mistress to JFK, is murdered in a public park in broad daylight, a year or two after his death and shortly after the Warren report was issued, it is not a random event.

I purchased this book after I saw the author briefly on CNN. Not liking the way Peter was treated, I thought perhaps there was something more that I should know. Normally, this is not the type of book I read, but I am still in awe after finishing the book last night. My eyes are now wide open and this book is a must read for every US citizen. Thank you for writing this, Peter.

I am still fascinated with the JFK conspiracy - ( just like with 9/11 ! ) and this book certainly adds another facet to the story.
Unfortunately it is so extensively researched and poorly edited that the obviously intriguing story gets badly lost in agonizing detail. What's the first hint ? 40% of the book are references!

This book is undoubtedly one of the most interesting books that I have read in the last 5 years. In fact, it is probably the most interesting book I can remember reading. It has all the elements required for an outstanding work of fiction: a complex plot, interesting and often extremely sinister characters, and strange plot twists that just don't seem to curve but actually seem to veer off into the stratosphere at warp speed. The irony of it all is that this isn't fiction. It centers on real life occurrences that have been doctored up and obscured at the highest levels of government.
The impetus for writing this book was the author's childhood acquaintance with a woman named Mary Pinchot Meyer who was the mother of the author's childhood friend Michael Meyer. Pinchot Meyer was murdered on a towpath in the Georgetown area of DC, but over the past 30+ years has been identified as having had an affair and ongoing friendship with John F. Kennedy up to the time he was assassinated in November, 1963.
Mary Meyer was a descendant of a wealthy and extremely prominent Pennsylvania family who travelled in the rarified world of high society and politics. She married a man named Cord Meyer who became a CIA operative after WWII. The marriage tanked after a decade or so, but not before Mary Meyer had been exposed to the workings of the CIA and the agencies attempts to control public policy and eliminate inconvenient people who got in the agency's way.
Kennedy's death by assasination stirred Meyer's suspicions and she started asking questions, too many questions. At this juncture, Meyer quite literally was asking questions that the CIA didn't want asked and became a very inconvenient person given her status and connections. The next thing anyone knew was that Meyer had been murdered and an improbable patsy had been implicated in her murder. Her death might have gone completely unnoticed except for her vocal suspicions that she was being spied on. Adding to the intrigue was her relationships with many high ranking CIA officials and operatives. Elements of her death seemed staged. Too many of her friends gave out conflicting stories which would be revised or completely recanted decades later.
If Mary's relationship with Kennedy had remained a secret, it's unlikely that Mary's murder would have seemed like anything but a random act of violence. However, the Kennedy connection and Mary's suspicions linked both their deaths and those of other people who got suspicious.
The author really gets to the heart of this story quickly, but more gradually manages to weave a story that is complex and extremely detailed based on eyewitness accounts and missing and/or doctored and fabricated evidence which point to the theory that JFK was assassinated by the CIA and so was Meyer.
I could enumerate at length about all the lies, mistruths, and contradictory testimonies that pointed to this conclusion, but the reality is there is so much evidence that refutes the Warren Commission's conclusions and the investigation into Mary Meyers death combined with information about the CIA's methods that this book makes an extremely convincing argument that Kennedy wasn't assassinated by a lone gunman and that Mary Meyers death was not purely a random act of big city violence in one of the toniest areas of DC.
As for this book's length, I loaded it on my Kindle before I boarded a plane for a 3+ hour flight. When I landed I had only read the first 8% of this book. I mention this because I am a fairly proficient speed reader and this is an extremely long, detailed and complicated story which was the result of the author's investigation and those of other people who also were on to this story. It was really necessary for me to take notes and bookmark the text to refer to later. The author initially drove me a tad crazy with the often repeated statement that said 'this will be referred to later in the book' or something along that line. As the story progressed it was apparent that many statements made needed to be referenced later on in the text when those statements were contradicted by subsequent information or evidence or were expanded upon.
While I definitely buy into the idea that Kennedy was earmarked by the CIA for assassination (for any number of good reasons) as was Mary to a lesser extent mostly because she was causing too much trouble, I don't necessarily buy into the author's representation that Mary was Kennedy's muse for the goal of world peace. I don't know that much about Kennedy's Presidency or his commitment to his relationship with Meyer, but a 'vision of world peace and achieving it' seems a bit lofty after the Bay of Pigs fiasco left most people quaking in their drawers and Kennedy was involved in his postumously reported extracurricular activities with many women other than Mary Pinchot Meyer.
If you are considering purchasing the Kindle edition as I did, be aware that the pictures featured in the hard cover version are not present in the digital version. Also, the book is ver heavily footnoted and it is preferable to reference the footnotes as you read. Since I had already seen a couple of pictures of Mary Pinchot Meyer, I knew what the author was talking about regarding her appearance. However, seeing photographs of Meyer and some of the key players in this book really enhances this long and extremely complicated story.
Ironically, after I got home I watched a 3 hour program about the Kennedys and saw a lot of the people mentioned in this book talking about JFK and his assasination. I was fascinated yet also repelled after having read this book with so many details still fresh in my mind. Many people were involved in this smoke job and many were high government officials, the socially prominent, and somewhat shockingly Mary's friends and family members.
Ultimately, this is a fine book that delves into the inner workings of the CIA and is thoughtful, complex, and revealing. It is also extremely plausible that everything in this book is true, but I doubt that the revelations in this book will go anywhere for the obvious reasons.

I thought "Mary's Mosaic" was yet another snapshot of the out of control CIA in an age when you didn't question the government.

We assumed they had our best interest at heart. Nope, they only had their own. This is a great story by a gentleman who took it personally at all costs (Even personal and family). A sad look back at what this agency would do to save their own necks and keep their cronies happy.

I shake my head in wonder how these well trained idiots ever got to the agency level they achieved. More comes out everyday on JFK's death, the chicken LBJ laying down in the back seat during the motorcade through Dallas on 11/22/63 (Before the gun shots, by the way.) Former CIA and FBI agnets coming clean with their stories weekly.

When will we clear this up in our History books? Let's hope we do it while we can save a little respect.
Thanks for your decades of work Peter!
I'm buying extra copies for my History nuts.

The book is exactly what the back cover claims....a piece in a puzzle that has never been solved. Corresponding the information in this book with Gaeton Fonzi's "The Last Investigation", and Douglas's "JFK and the Unspeakable" one can indeed see the mosaic that has been created by the upper reaches of our CIA, and that mosaic is a terrifying scenario that as a researcher, I find disturbingly plausible. We had a coup in 1963, and we are suffering it's effects in 2013. Janney's book will not get any traction, I feel sure of that. It is, however, one of the most important books written in the last fifty years.

There are other reviewers who have written in detail about this book, page by page, and I recommend readers to familiarize themselves with these reviews. I will not repeat what has already been said, but instead contribute with additional comments.

The outcome of the first American civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 decided who should be included in the winners club and steer the new nation into the future. The second American civil war, which is fought in our own time by stealth, is deciding who shall not be included in the winners club. It is against these two contradictory scenarios that many of the violent political deaths that has occurred in the United States speak more clearly to us, stand out in a way we have not realized before and warn us. We have become aware of the violent culture underpinning American politics of today, even though such incidents are usually not acknowledged or reported, but often repressed and denied.

The book, Mary's Mosaic written by author Peter Janney is an expression of two opposite political belief systems locked in bitter and relentless conflict. The United States of today is in many ways in a diametrical opposite situation than were the case after 1865; "Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness" has been exchanged for control, imprisonment and death. "That all men are created equal", has been exchanged by razor sharp ideological trenches that divide a whole nation. Author Peter Janney has produced a remarkable and important work. Seldom do we get opportunity to move into the dark tunnels of power in the brilliant way Mr. Janney shows us. This is in many ways a dangerous book, but a necessary one. It's dangerous, because the story told by Peter Janney is also the story of our own time and lives here and now, and that should give even the most hardened reader goose bumps. It's also a necessary book, much because the execution of President John F Kennedy's long time friend and lover, Mary Pinchot Meyer, is not simply a "murder" as has been repeated over and over like a mantra. No, on the contrary; this is Civil War on a Grand and sophisticated scale, meticulously executed and tirelessly vigilant.

Author Peter Janney has with his thoroughly, investigative and intelligent book Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and their Vision for World Peace, documented far beyond reasonable doubt, that this is a special kind of stealth war, a war where intelligent people both in and outside of politics, and with the highest ideals for peace and for the survival of humanity, have no place at all and therefore must be surgically and precisely removed. It can't get any darker than this, and readers are hereby warned! Buy the book!